The WTA makes its lone stop in Africa for the Grand Prix de SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem. The red clay court event has been staged in three different cities in Morocco, starting off in Casablanca in 2001, moving to Rabat in 2005 and then to its current home of Fès in 2007.

Fès, an increasingly popular tourist destination, is Morocco's second largest city. The name of the event refers to Princess Lalla Meryem, the sister of Mohammed VI, King of Morocco.

Among the tournament's past participants are Marion Bartoli, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Li Na, Dinara Safina and Patty Schnyder. It has produced a different champion each year since its inception.

Looks like some of the former top ten WTA players are trying to get more ranking points to move up in the ranking before the next Grand Slam comes up! I guess those in this tournament want to have their rankings up and not have to face the top 20 players in the first round. But they still may face Venus Williams however!